It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Friday ordered the relief of a policeman from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) who allegedly got involved in a road rage incident along Commonwealth Avenue.
NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar also ordered the reassignment of Police Master Sergeant (PMSg) Wilson Q. Aquino from QCPD’s Police Station-3 Tactical Motorcycle Reaction Unit to the NCRPO Regional Headquarters Support Unit.
In a statement, Eleazar said a complainant only identified as “Robert” personally appeared before him at NCRPO on Thursday and reported to him the incident that took place last July 26.
“This will serve as a lesson for everybody at nagpapasalamat ako dahil na-expose ang mga pulis na abusadong ito,” Eleazar said in a statement.
Another bad egg gone. Again. I'm sure this will "serve as a lesson for everybody."
Speaking at the 118th Police Service anniversary in Camp Crame, Duterte argued that receiving gifts out of “gratitude” cannot be considered a violation of the law.
“It is not bribery because it is allowed by the law. What I mean is if there is generosity and then sabi ng anti-graft you cannot accept gifts, kalokohan ‘yan,” Duterte said.
“If you’re able to solve a crime and the family would like to be generous to you or nurture a feeling of gratitude for what you accomplished then you accept wala akong…but to us that is something,” he added.
The President also claimed that he doesn’t mind that some policemen are earning extra money from “video-karera” (a betting game using video machine playing horse racing).
“‘Yung machine diba ‘yung karera…inyo naman ‘yan. Wala man akong pakialam. Eh hindi mo rin naman talaga mapigilan,” he said.
“Alam mo ang pulis even sa pamilya niyan hirap ‘yan. I know because I have been mayor (of Davao City) for 23 years and I’m a prosecutor for 8 years,” he added.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) will not hesitate to investigate and file cases against police officers guilty of accepting gifts that involved corruption.
“Our intensified campaign on internal cleansing is ongoing and we will never hesitate to investigate and charge PNP personnel found doing illegal acts,” PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said in a statement on Saturday.
“At any rate, the PNP remains to be bound by rules that govern our conduct under any given situation,” he added.
PNP noted that it strictly complies with Republic Act 6723 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for government officials and employees.
The PNP also reiterated its message to the public that there is no need for people to render gifts to law enforcers “who are just doing their job.”
“We always explain to the public that there is no need for them to give gifts as we are just doing our job and we get paid by the Filipino people through our salaries,” Banac said.
The PNP, likewise, affirmed Duterte’s statement, saying it is “harmless” to accept gifts if there is no corruption or abuse of authority involved.
Duterte says its ok for cops to accept gifts and the PNP says that is true and that they strictly comply with RA 6713 (6723 is a typo) which says gifts of any kind cannot be accepted by government officials. The act of accepting a gift IS corruption in and of itself. Duterte and the PNP are both sanctioning corruption.
A barangay chairwoman in Manila died after being gunned down by two unidentified motorcycle-riding men on Friday night.
The Homicide Section of the Manila Police District (MPD) identified the victim as Aileen Guidotong, 47, chairwoman of Barangay 314 Zone 31 District 3 in Santa Cruz District.
The woman’s secretary, Maricel Rubio, 35, told police that they were seated in front of the barangay hall, which is at the corner of Lope De Vega and T. Alonzo Streets, when the two assailants got off their motorcycle and shot Guidotong.
The assailants then fled through Lope De Vega Street while the woman was rushed to the nearest hospital where she later died.
According to Lt. Paul Dennis Javier, deputy chief of MPD Homicide Division, Guidotong was included in the government’s drugs watchlist.
“Before the barangay elections, the President mentioned here as being listed as a narco-politicians,” Javier, speaking in Filipino, said in an interview with AM radio station dzMM on Saturday.
Another political tagged on Duterte's narco-politician list assassinated by motorcycle assassins.
Three policemen are facing complaints for allegedly torturing two suspected robbers in Manila on Saturday.
Manila Police District Station 5 commander Lt. Colonel Igmedio Bernaldez relieved S/Sgt. Ariel Papa and Cpls. Joshua Salazar and Raymond James Magdangal after complaints were filed by the relatives of Rowell Manlapig, 22, and Emil Joseph Dianela, 27.
Bernaldez also ordered Paz police community precinct chief Capt. Joseph Bocalbos to explain the incident that allegedly happened at the precinct.
In her affidavit, Norelyn Manlapig, sister of Manlapig and Dianela’s former partner, said police officers from the precinct arrested the two men along Pedro Gil street at around 8 p.m. Saturday while they were on their way home.
Manlapig and Dianela were taken to the precinct, reportedly on charges of robbery.
Their relatives, however, alleged that they saw the two men swathed in bandages, their faces and bodies apparently scalded and bearing marks of torture, at a hospital when they were taken for physical examination following their arrest.
“You’re lucky to have seen them alive. Tomorrow they will be inside a box,” Dianela’s mother quoted a certain Corporal Catacutan as saying in Filipino.
Messed up if true and why wouldn't it be true? It's not as if it hasn't happened before.
Dela Rosa, who served as Davao City Police chief during the time of Duterte as mayor, said it was normal for him to receive gifts, especially during Christmas season.
(I admit that every Christmas I receive so many gifts, including Lacoste T-shirts. How do I stop them? I could not stop people from bringing gifts to my office. There were fruits, queso de bola, ham.)
Dela Rosa said there were also instances where people gave gifts to policemen to thank them for their service. He cited an incident where a family of a rescued kidnap victim sent lechon (roasted pig) to the police station to thank the cops.
“It does not constitute bribery because you were not influenced to do something in his favor. The gift was given to you in the form of goodwill, through gratitude or generosity,” he said.
Dela Rosa emphasized that accepting gifts from people with questionable characters and motives was however prohibited.
(It’s a different thing if you will accept gifts from a drug lord or a gambling lord. That’s not good. But if you will accept gifts from a credible person who was just appreciating your service, what’s wrong with that?)
“The spirit of the law is to avoid bribery from taking place. Anong bribery dyan? (Where’s bribery there?)”
The letter of the law is just as important as the spirit of the law. He knew people would bring gifts. He could have put up a sign saying "No Gifts." He could have taken gifts given to him and his office and donated them to charity. There are many ways to stop the reception of gifts which are prohibited in toto under the law.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said he also accepted gifts but only limited to food items during special occasions.
“Pagkain? Of course, I am not a hypocrite. Hindi ako ipokrito kumain din ako ng lechon,” Albayalde told reporters after the 118th National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) police service in Taguig City on Tuesday when asked if he accepts gifts from the public.
Albayalde said the PNP also receives food from the public during anniversaries.
“Pagkain, yes of course during anniversaries we accept food… These things are consumable,” Albayalde said.
The Philippines' top cop admits he too has taken gifts. How does the gift being food on a special occasion make the law against taking gifts void? It doesn't!
Three policemen assigned at the police stations in Catmon and Sogod towns in northern Cebu may be ordered relieved from their post after they were found sleeping and not wearing the prescribed PNP uniform while on duty on Sunday, August 11.
The violation was discovered after he sent Police Lieutenant Colonel Melbert Esguerra, deputy provincial director for administration, to conduct a random inspection of the different police stations in northern Cebu, Sunday dawn.
Sleeping on the job. Maybe someone gifted them pillows?
The Commission on Audit has flagged 299 irrigation contracts worth P20.70 billion that have been delayed for up to 2,287 calendar days due to poor performance of contractors and other factors.
COA’s audit report of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) for 2018 released this August 9 also revealed that liquidation damages were not imposed against contractors who defaulted in 44 contracts amounting to P12.24 billion.
This is aside from NIA’s decision not to terminate or rescind 20 additional contracts which have incurred negative slippages. These were worth P9.039 billion.
One reason, according to COA, why the projects incurred significant delays is the performance of contractors and NIA’s “inadequate planning, inefficient execution of surveys and investigations and the recurring issues on the acquisition of Right of Way (ROW)”.
“Review disclosed that Management had not been able to fully address the recurring issue on considerable delays in the implementation of NIA projects,” COA said.
As the country’s official irrigation authority, NIA is mandated to help the country’s program on rice self-sufficiency by infrastructure projects in line with irrigation and agricultural development.
However, with the delays, farmers relying on water from irrigation projects would have to find other ways to nurture their crops.
Farmers depend on this agency and they have been let down. In turn the nations rice self-sufficiency goals are not reached. It's all connected.
A police corporal who went on AWOL last year was killed after allegedly robbing a security guard, who was also wounded in the same incident, at Teresita Village, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City, at around 2:30 p.m. today, August 13, 2019.
Police Major Henrix Bancoleta, Labangon Police Station chief, identified the slain policeman as Jobie Libradilla Antipolo, based on the identification card found in his pocket.
Initial police investigation showed that Antipolo, along with a cohort, fired a shot at Edwin Velos, a security officer of the Sarsalejo Security Agency who was passing in the area driving a motorcycle and carrying with him P500,000 intended for the salary of the agency’s security guards.
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that an AWOL cop has gone off the rails into criminality. The PNP ought to do a better job checking up on AWOL cops.
"We're only human," a Department of Education official said Tuesday when asked about the hundreds of errors found in P254 million worth of Grade 3 textbooks and learning materials flagged by the Commission on Audit in its audit report for the department.
In a report by Cecille Villarosa on 24 Oras on Tuesday, Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla went on to say that teachers can spot and correct any "typographical" errors they might find in the books as they are used.
The COA report had observed that the errors were spotted in the learning materials "despite [their] undergoing the three-step review process of the Department."
The teachers are, indeed, having to make up for the textbooks' shortcomings.
Another Education Undersecretary, Nepo Malaluan, said in a separate 24 Oras report that some of these "errors" were just a matter of semantics.
"Some of these are not really downright errors, but sometimes semantics and editorial...you have a Commission on Audit that would now wish to substitute its editorial preferences to that of the Department of Education," he said.
ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro decried the errors that escaped the DepEd's notice.
"Teachers have been repeatedly told to learn financial literacy whenever they demand a substantial increase in their meager salaries, only to find out that the education agency itself has been inefficient and delinquent with the use of its funds," Castro said in a statement.
"We will investigate this matter and call for accountability to look into the delinquencies and the misuse of education funds."
The COA report also noted that over 3.4 million books and other learning materials worth over P113 million had been left unused in DepEd warehouses that were "in very poor condition"—left idle for so long that they may already fall under the Irregular, Unnecessary, Excesive, Extravagant and Unconscionable expenditures.
The DepEd orders books filled with typographical errors which the teachers have to correct and they have 3.4 million books sitting idle in warehouses. What a waste of funds. There's being human and then there is being negligent.
Intelligence Officer 1 Monakiram Currie Batabor, 39, reportedly tried to intimidate Makati cops after his uncle was collared in a drug raid inside a house on Sgt. Fabian Yabut St. in Barangay Guadalupe, Makati on Monday around 7 p.m.
Major Gideon Ines Jr., Makati City police Investigation Unit chief, said the NBI agent suddenly appeared at their headquarters an hour after his uncle and seven other men were reportedly caught having a shabu session.
“When he appeared, he told us that he is an agent of NBI. He asked us to free his uncle, Manjahe Currie. He was was really intimidating us,” Ines said.
“What he did was in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. He could be jailed for six to twelve years,” he further said.
The whole intimidation done by Batabor, according to Ines, was caught on video, saying he cannot deny what he did.
Apparently, Batabor was bringing his firearm, a caliber .40 pistol with serial no. AAFS026.
Sounds like he had his weapon and threatened to harm them but the writing is so bad in the article that one can only make an educated guess. Whatever he did it's certainly a an abuse of authority.
Belgica said one of the complaints was filed by an official from the Cabinet secretary’s department while the other was lodged by a private citizen.
The two Cabinet members, Belgica added, have been cooperating with PACC investigators.
The Presidential Anti-CorruptionCommission (PACC) revealed Wednesday that it has been conducting a lifestyle check to at least 200 government officials due to alleged corruption.
PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said the officials were from the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and Bureau of Customs (BOC).
“My estimate is at least 200,” Belgica said in a press briefing in Malacañang.
“DOTr. The whole department has asked to be investigated voluntarily,” he added. “We will start with the higher officials.”
What real power and authority does this extra constitutional body have? There is of course the Ombudsman and the COA to whom these cases should be referred if any wrong doing has been committed. And why even mention these investigations when they should be secret so as not to compromise them? Likely it's all for show.
Incumbent Mayor Valdemar Chiong of Naga town in Cebu has been ordered suspended for 90 days by Sandiganbayan for graft charges.
According to a resolution from the Sixth Division dated July 25, Chiong’s suspension is mandated for government officials accused of graft, in accordance with Republic Act 3019 or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Chiong is accused of giving unwarranted benefits to gas company Petronas Energy Philippines Inc. when he allegedly issued a business permit in April 2014 even if the said establishment has not secured a Fire Safety Inspection Certification from the Bureau of Fire Protection.
In the last 2019 midterm elections, Chiong ran under the Nacionalista Party and edged out his opponent Delfin Señor by over 24,500 votes. His daughter, former mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong, meanwhile secured the vice mayoral post.
The article does not say what position he held in 2014. Mayor perhaps? It is a very tame charge in comparison to so many others. Also note that his daughter is the Vice Mayor. Another town run by a family dynasty.
Lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) have asked the Ombudsman to suspend the agency’s head, Persida Acosta, and forensics chief Erwin Erfe for alleged corruption.
In a statement submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, the lawyers — PAO employees with Salary Grade 26 and higher — claimed that Acosta and her allies in the financial and management service had a “systematic scheme” for defrauding the government by doctoring purchase orders to make agency funds available to Acosta.
Acosta denied the lawyers’ accusations. She told the Inquirer by phone that she had not received a copy of the statement, but she believed it was part of a smear campaign.
“They are just trying to destroy my reputation. And if it is anonymous, if there is no signature, that is just a malicious scrap of paper,” she said.
In his complaint filed in May, Garrido said Acosta and Erfe created the PAO forensic laboratory without authorization from Congress.
Garrido accused Acosta and Erfe of graft, falsification of public documents, malversation of public funds, illegal use of public funds or property, as well as grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, grave abuse of authority and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of public service.
But in the statement filed in intervention, the PAO lawyers alleged that Acosta and Erfe just established the forensic laboratory without authorization from Congress.
They accused Acosta of “entrenched” corruption at the agency, since she had allegedly placed loyal staffers in the finance service.
They also said Acosta “ambulance chases” families of children who had died after receiving the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, coercing them to seek the PAO’s help in pursuing their cases.
The lawyers said Acosta went as far as giving the families a sample letter soliciting PAO services, which they were then instructed to copy on pad paper for “authenticity.”
Acosta and Erfe also used PAO funds to purchase tarpaulin, T-shirts and coffins that the parents used in rallies, the lawyers said.
Interesting charges and a standard response from Acosta. If the charges are true then the veracity of the PAO's dengevaxia investigations would be thrown into doubt. Not that they aren't already.
A former board member of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Wednesday identified 8 people who are part of the alleged "mafia" within the state health insurance agency.
Former PhilHealth board member Roberto Salvador said the group wields great influence over state health insurance agency.
He said its members, who have been with the agency for around two decades, have managed to avoid being assigned to other jurisdictions.
Salvador identified the "mafia" members as PhilHealth regional vice-presidents Paolo Johan Perez (Region IV-B), Khaliquzzaman Macabato (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), William Chavez (Region VII), Dennis Adre (Region XI), and Masidling Alonto Jr. (Region X).
He also tagged PhilHealth Assistant Corporate Secretary Valerie Anne Hollero, PhilHealth Caraga legal officer Jelbert Galicto, and former Region XII vice-president Miriam Grace Pamonag as members of the group.
Salvador clarified that he was not accusing members of the group of criminal activities, but said they are known to wield great influence within PhilHealth.
Salvador names names, unlike many accusers, and then goes on to say he is not accusing them of criminal activities despite the whole controversy being about those in power at PhilHealth misusing funds.
After Sen. Risa Hontiveros delivered her privilege speech pressing for the passage of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill, Sotto asked how the initialism LGBTQI came to be.
“Why that lengthy letters? Why not just ‘homo sapiens?’ ” Sotto asked Hontiveros.
“Why do we have to segregate the gays from the lesbians, the straight guys?”
Hontiveros responded by saying: “Totoo po. We are all homo sapiens, we are all human beings, we are all one species.”
“There would not have been a need to segregate, I agree with you, if human civilizations and societies evolved to a point where there is no discrimination, and there’s equality among all, regardless of identity, regardless of expression. But that’s not what’s happening.”
It's hard to believe the Sotto is not up to date with modern sexual politics. These things are happening in all countries not just the West.
How do you solve a problem like EDSA?
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo is proposing a 24-hour workday, saying it can help ease traffic woes because it will reduce the number of vehicles on the road.
“Personally, I think we should have a 24-hour activity, there will be night (shift), there will be day (shift) so it will be divided,” Panelo said in a press briefing yesterday. “Is there a system like that around the world? I think there is none. What if we give it a try?”
Panelo claimed a 24-hour workday would improve the traffic situation because only half of the vehicles are on the road during the day while the rest would go out at night.
“You will lessen (traffic) because there would be different schedules for work and school,” he said.
A stupid proposal. Isn't Manila a 24-hour city? Isn't there activity at every hour of the day and night?
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